BY MARIE ANDRUSEWICZ -- Gov. Brian Sandoval vetoed a bill that would require background checks for gun sales, saying it created an unreasonable burden on those conducting the transaction, particularly on collectors looking to transfer firearms among relatives.

State Senator Justin Jones thinks that the sale of a gun is worth at least he same amount of time spent dealing with bureacracy as registering a car at the DMV.

“I really don’t think it’s unreasonable for someone to go through a five-minute background check in order to confirm that the person that they’re selling their gun to is not a felon or someone who is severely mentally ill,” says Jones. “I just don’t think that’s a harsh penalty for someone going through the sale of a gun.”

Jones says his bill, which had already passed the Assembly and the Senate, was stalled at the last minute by an organization that had originally endorsed the bill, the Nevada Conference of Police and Sheriffs.

“I talked to law enforcement throughout this process,” says Jones. “It was only frankly in the 11th hour, when some of the rural sheriffs got involved, I suspect as a result of NRA influence, that they changed their position.”

According to a poll by Progress Now Nevada, 86 percent of Nevadans are in favor of universal background checks for gun owners.

“Five minutes? More than 500 licensed firearm dealers in the state?” says Jones of his bill’s requirements for getting a background check. “I just don’t think that’s a difficult thing for the average person to do in order to ensure that they are not selling their gun to the wrong person.”

Just register the Damn things and stop making excuses to why you don't want to do it. Its not a big deal. It has nothing to do with it being unconstitutional. Stop being so paranoid. Tony –Aug 19, 2013 09:46:36 AM

The last caller, of course speaking from emotion, assumes the gun her Mother sold was only capable of BAD things.
I would submit that weapon could just as likely be protecting a good family from criminals or used in teaching the next generation how to shoot and respect firearms.
Guns aren't inherently bad, it all about how people use them, like anything else. Rob –Aug 19, 2013 09:24:00 AM

We register our cars and they have not been confiscated by the government, so Tim's nutty prognostication doesn't hold water. Lets make it harder for people who should not have guns to get them-background checks for all gun purchases.Jim in Henderson –Aug 19, 2013 09:14:38 AM

People need to realize that their odds of dying in a car accident, getting shot by a cop, getting killed by a government agent, or even being mauled to death with a hammer are many times higher than one's odds of being killed in a mass shooting by a crazy person. Indeed, background checks are just a way for the State to register every gun and gun owner, and to extract money from us during the process. And, as every aspiring police state knows, first registration, then confiscation. As far as I am concerned, not only is any background check at all extremely unconstitutional, but they will simply not stop criminals from getting guns, for they *never* go through background checks.Tim Hunt –Aug 15, 2013 16:41:52 PM